The liver transplant center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School is one of just two such units in the state

Mati Muñoz is 65 years old – filled with the enthusiastic energy that
comes with a second chance at life. A decade ago, says Muñoz, who lives
in Woodbridge Township, N.J., her liver was being destroyed by
hepatitis C, a viral disease she believes she contracted as a girl in
her native Cuba from a poorly sterilized needle used in a medical
procedure.

“My coworkers said I looked like a ghost,” Muñoz recalls. Her
symptoms included insomnia, depression, bloating, nausea – and an
especially nasty decline in mental function caused by blood toxins that
were degrading her brain.

Muñoz went on a registry to receive a liver transplant and over the
next two years her symptoms intensified as she waited for a suitable
donor.